Out of the past 3/23/06

25 years ago: March 23, 1981

Cape Girardeau County Court says it is willing to discuss objections to construction of a canopy over the south doors of the Common Pleas Courthouse in an attempt to reach a compromise between practicality and historic preservation; in a letter to the court, the Historic Association of Greater Cape Girardeau noted, "We fail to understand why the public was not made aware of this proposed addition to the single-most valuable historic building in our city."

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Puxico, Mo., farmer Wayne Cryts testifies before the House Agri-Business Committee, urging the committee to approve a bill which would clarify Missouri's grain warehouse laws.

50 years ago: March 23, 1956

Lie detector tests are being administered today and will be continued tomorrow to another group of people in the Missouri State Highway Patrol's continuing investigation of the murder of Bonnie Hoffman, Cape Girardeau County rural school teacher, over the Independence Day holiday period in 1954.

General repairs on the dome and roof of the Jackson courthouse have been started by Landgraf Construction Co., with Bob Landgraf as foreman.

75 years ago: March 23, 1931

Definite locations have been chosen for two Cape Girardeau County farm-to-market roads, one of which will be constructed this year; the two roads are proposed routes between Delta, via a point near Allenville, to Drum, on the Bollinger County line, a distance of seven miles, and from Millersville to Daisy, eight miles.

The highway department has made no definite decision regarding replacing of the bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek on the Bloomfield Road near the Cape Girardeau city limits.

100 years ago: March 23, 1906

The task of keeping fires going in Cape Girardeau is at present the greatest worry confronting residents; none of the local coal dealers has any coal on hand, and they are turning the people's demands away; the efforts of the great railway systems to provide themselves with fuel for emergency use have caused the stringency; there is no doubt but that the roads are confiscating every car of coal possible, because of the threat of a coal miners strike.

August Heisler, a prominent farmer living three miles west of Cape Girardeau, has carpenters building one of the largest barns in this county.

-- Sharon K. Sanders